Sylvia McCloud Box 665
Ronan, 64T 59364
PABLO, MONTANA 59855 ISSN: 0528-8592
VOLUME 10 NUMBER 6 FULL MOON OF THE SERVICEBERRY JULY 15 1980
FIRST POW-WOW OF THE DECADE IS "WEIRDEST EVER"
The Flathead Reservation's 82nd Annual Pow-Wow will go down in history as the "the weirdest celebration ever". In addition to the usual North American Indian dancing, stickgames and feasting, this year's five-day program featured two other kinds of Indians ~ Mexican and Scan-danavian.
BRYAN BRAZILL CHOSEN I.T.Y.P. CHIEF
Young Tribal member, Bryan Brazill, was named Chief of this year's Inter-Tribal Youth Practicum (ITYP), held on the Blackfeet Reservation last month.
The 17-year-old high school senior from Arlee explained that ITYP Chief is equivalent to being chosen governor of Montana's Boys State program. Chairman of the "Bear Tribe" (one of 4 theoretical tribes at the practicum charged with devising and operating a "tribal government"), Bryan was also named the outstanding student of his group. These honors, he modestly explained, came as a result of his deep involvement with the seven-day learning experience.
As half of the ITYP royalty ~ Leola Weed of Wyoming was named Princess - he's now looking forward to one of the benefits of chiefdom...a trip to Washington, D.C., later this summer. (Actually, he's been there before: he was the first runner-up at last year's meeting and accompanied then -Chief Wilfred Fish to the nation's capital city.)
Bryan is the son of Virginia and Jack Brazill. A Salish Indian - "not Flathead", he stressed -- he enjoys Indian dancing and traveling to pow-wows with his family. He also sketches very stylized Indian designs (which we are featuring in this issue with Bryan's permission) and enjoys drumming, as in "Rock and Roll", not war chants.
Mexico's Indian population was represented by seven young people who call themselves "Esplendora Azteca". The dance group delighted pow-wow goers five evenings in a row with their high energy renditions of half-a-dozen ancient Aztec dances, including the popular "Fire Serpent" finale featuring a five-foot-long live snake and a dancer who stepped on and over a flaming torch.
The Scandanavian "Indians" were ten foreign exchange students from Norway (see their story on page 24 ). After singing two of their native Sami folk songs, they were invited to participate in a special honor dance. With that brief initiation to North American Indian dancing under their belts, the group's endurance was put to a test as they were led in a rousing Oklahoma Two-Step dance. After yet a third circuit around the dance pavilion, this time in a tamer intertribal, the Sami students drifted away - some with a buckskin outfitted guide - to check out the rest of the pow-wow sights and photograph them for the folks back home.
Briefly, now, here's a summary of Arlee's big July "doings":
July 2 - Wednesday afternoon was devoted to an afternoon-long memorial observance for Tom W. Brown, a well-known and well-liked Tribal elder, who died last year. The event included a memorial ceremony, a give-away and a feast. ¦ «Sfr a» ^» i^i ¦< (Continued on page two)
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Guest Editorial.. T........................page 2
Northern Tier............................page 4
Letters to the Editor......................page 6
Health Corner.......................... Page 14
Around the Campfire...... Page 15
Minutes.........................'.'.Page 17